Applied Semantics. From a ROI perspective, acquisition of Applied
Semantics in 2003 was a most profitable one. It was used to built AdSense –
the paid search advertising platform that's responsible for most of Google's
revenue and profits.
Double Click. The purchase of DoubleClick, a display advertising
company, for US$3.1 billion in 2007 was a largest acquisition by Google. The
technology is used in AdSense and YouTube.
Android. Acquisition of Android, the mobile phone platform, for
approximately US$ 50 million in 2005 was Google’s one of the best deal ever.
Only two years after launch, Android has become the second-most-popular
mobile platform in the world, with almost 25% share. Android generates
revenue indirectly. Google gives the OS away, but it provides a built-in
user base for mobile search and mobile advertising, which generate more than
$1 billion a year.
JotSpots. Google Sites started out as JotSpots. Google acquired the
company in 2006.
Postini. Google bought Postini email security and services company in
2007 for $625 million and integrated its add-on email services, like
archiving and spam-blocking, into Gmail for business users. This acquisition
was a great addition to Google's enterprise applications business.
YouTube. When Google bought the video-sharing service in 2009,
YouTube was full of copyrighted content that users uploaded without
permission. Google skillfully instituted a reasonable takedown policy and
negotiated contracts with content owners to make YouTube safer and highly
profitable.
On2. Having bought On2 video compression company for US$133 million
in 2010, Google open-sourced the VP8 video codec it acquired with On2, and
renamed it WebM. Google’s objective was to push WebM as a replacement for
H.264, a much more widely used standard for Web video.
Like. Google bought Like.com visual search company in 2010 from US$ 100
million, and put the team to work building a search vertical for women's
fashion called Boutiques.com.
Slide, SocialDeck. Google bought two social gaming companies in 2010
to develop new social initiatives.
Discover winning practices and approaches
in the mini-course
Innovation Strategies
